Nintendo's Annual Sales Up 20%
By Jeff Malester -- TWICE, 6/17/2002
Kyoto, Japan— Spurred by booming overseas sales of Gamecube and Game Boy Advance hardware and software, Nintendo reported a 20 percent increase in consolidated net sales in fiscal 2002, hitting $4.5 billion, up from $3.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Strong overseas sales of the advanced gaming systems also helped boost Nintendo's consolidated net income 10.2 percent in the 12 months, to $857.7 million, up from $776.6 million in fiscal 2001.
Nintendo's foreign sales during the 12 months reached $3.3 billion, 74.1 percent of consolidated net sales.
Sales in the Americas hit $2.3 billion in fiscal 2002, compared with $1.9 billion year over year. Operating profit in the Americas improved to $252.8 million for the year, up from $236.8 million in the year-ago 12 months.
Both Gamecube and Game Boy Advance were introduced in the Americas during the fiscal year ended March 31.
In overall electronic entertainment product movement, sales of Nintendo's handheld hardware reached $1.5 billion in 2002, up from $994.3 million the previous year. Sales of console hardware jumped to $799.7 million in 2002, compared with $239.3 million in 2001.
In overall handheld software, 2002 sales hit $1.3 billion, up from $1.1 billion in the year-ago 12 months. Sales of console software, however, dropped to $514.2 million in 2002, down from $1 billion year over year.
Overall hardware sales jumped to $2.5 billion in 2002, up from $1.4 billion the previous year, while overall software sales dipped to $1.9 billion in 2002, down from $2.3 billion a year ago.
Looking ahead to the current fiscal year ending in March of 2003, Nintendo anticipates lowered consolidated net income of $723.6 million. However, it expects consolidated net sales for the fiscal year to increase about 15 percent, to $5.1 billion.
Nintendo improved its overall gross margin 10 basis points in the most recent fiscal year, to 39.8 percent, up from 39.7 percent in 2001. At the same time, the company reduced its overall selling, general and administrative expenses 330 basis points, to 18.2 percent, down from 21.5 percent the previous year.
